What did you do on your layout today?

mattrain posted:

carsntrains posted:

I got one side of the bridge detailed and ready to paint! I put a slightly wider upright every fifth one, similar to a bridge over the French Broad river near Knoxville TN.  And took another shot from a bit higher so yall can see the S curve in the bridge!   Very satisfied so far with my first real building project for a train layout!  Think we have decided on green for color if I can figure out what color green they paint bridges!!! 

Looks great @carsntrains! I'm currently considering building something similar for my elevated line - do you have any additional details as to how you built/assembled this? I can tell you used a jig saw and plywood for the track support and balsa wood for the uprights, but what did you use for the curved girder sides (black) that the uprights are glued to?

Matt the uprights are 2 inch mild steel that I got at Home Depot. It is only half of an I and used for adding strength to a door frame. But not C channel.   Would be super simple to build a straight bridge in comparison to the S curve bridge we built.  Used 1/8 mild steel for cross members and for mounting plated the attach the upper deck.   That one is 54 inches long.  The top picture is the support after we bent them to shape.  

Jim 

Edit: Everything is MIG welded.  

This is what happens when you buy a 4' x 8' soundproofing board and forget you built a 4.5' x 8' table.  Need to go back to Lowe's tomorrow and but another board for 1/8th of the total.  Oh well.  Dummy move on my part. 

Deuce posted:

This is what happens when you buy a 4' x 8' soundproofing board and forget you built a 4.5' x 8' table.  Need to go back to Lowe's tomorrow and but another board for 1/8th of the total.  Oh well.  Dummy move on my part. 

Yeah.. right. I know, that's your story and you're sticking to it. Would have been more plausible if you hadn't announced plans for a major expansion this afternoon   

Apples55 posted:

Deuce posted:

This is what happens when you buy a 4' x 8' soundproofing board and forget you built a 4.5' x 8' table.  Need to go back to Lowe's tomorrow and but another board for 1/8th of the total.  Oh well.  Dummy move on my part. 

Yeah.. right. I know, that's your story and you're sticking to it. Would have been more plausible if you hadn't announced plans for a major expansion this afternoon   

Ha ha ha ... that's a bit down the road.  I showed the wife the plans this evening and she was like ... you're going to use the whole room?  My reply: As much as I can, yes.

At this point though, I'm dying to get both loops built and the O27 fastened down so I can run them both at the same time. My goal is before the weekend.

Looks good Duece!  Make sure to post how the sound deadening works out! 

Jim 

Tonight I finished up with installing all of the windows and touched up any paint that got scraped installing them. I'm done with this kit for now until it gets planted on the layout. Then I will go back and add some lighting and figures and signage. Onto the next kit.. Palace Hotel & card room.

I'm missing the one window on the third floor, can't find it anywhere.

You have no idea how this bugs me.

Al,

Send me the opening size and i'll check my supply of windows to see if i might have something that will fit. Looks like a 2 over 4 fixed panes?

modeltrainsparts posted:

Al,

Send me the opening size and i'll check my supply of windows to see if i might have something that will fit. Looks like a 2 over 4 fixed panes?

Thank you, I just sent an email to Randy at Downtown Deco and let me see if he will send me one first. 

Good evening folks.

I am brand new here to this OGR as a member. Today I worked on my layout. Moving vehicles around, fixing up my buildings. Took my wife and I 2 hours to repair my train station building. Somewhere along the way it got damaged in shipping. As we have just moved last May (2017) into our current home in Wabigoon, Ontario from Deep River, Ontario (1400km). 

My O-Scale 3 Rail set up is currently 8'x8' with plans to expand into the rest of my basement area (24'x34') with of course the limits of furnace, hot water tank, staircase and of course storage of things my wife wants downstairs. I am happy with what I have at the moment. gives me great joy to work on it and play with it. 

I have read a few forums here and picked up some great information. In closing I am going to try to include a few pictures of my layout. Which I started to build in September of 2017. 

Welcome aboard!  Looks like you're off to a good start! 

Mitch 

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Got a bunch of things done on Tuesday and Thursday, then Patrick came over today, and we really kicked butt.

Tuesday, I finished the earth paint on Dayton's Bluff, and cut the Masonite for Warner Rd.

I carved the roadbed over at the Division St wye. Still a little left to do there.

Got going with the asphalt paint over at 32nd St, in Hiawatha. Next comes the masking and concrete for sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and the grade crossings.

I cut Masonite for the paved area of BNSF Midway Intermodal.

I also got the west bank of the Mississippi almost finished in the Milwaukee Road Short Line Bridge scene.

I cut more Masonite for the pavement at the BNSF auto terminal, and cut the triangular plywood section that goes around the post.

Today Patrick installed that piece, and the piece on the other side of the two tracks, next to the backdrop...

as well as this little piece, and all the holes are filled in, ready for the last of the rail paint, scenery and ballast.

Then it was on to the other side of the backdrop at Pig's Eye for more of the same.

We had to clear the yard of cars in order to do this.

We caulked all the seams to make sure that the ballast glue doesn't rain down into the hidden yard below.

We are good to go here.

Next up, the back curve coming out of Hastings. We removed a couple of the track supports and clipped some wires to get the plywood into place. There will be a girder viaduct in this location, just like in the real world.

Patrick will be back in a couple weeks, and we'll finish this scene up. In the meantime, I have plenty of things that will keep me busy.

Richard Leray 012918 posted:

Good evening folks.

I am brand new here to this OGR as a member. Today I worked on my layout. Moving vehicles around, fixing up my buildings. Took my wife and I 2 hours to repair my train station building. Somewhere along the way it got damaged in shipping. As we have just moved last May (2017) into our current home in Wabigoon, Ontario from Deep River, Ontario (1400km). 

My O-Scale 3 Rail set up is currently 8'x8' with plans to expand into the rest of my basement area (24'x34') with of course the limits of furnace, hot water tank, staircase and of course storage of things my wife wants downstairs. I am happy with what I have at the moment. gives me great joy to work on it and play with it. 

I have read a few forums here and picked up some great information. In closing I am going to try to include a few pictures of my layout. Which I started to build in September of 2017. 

You are off to a great start. Lots of fun going on

Richard, Welcome to the OGR Forum!!  I’m glad to see you got trains running so quickly after moving!  We will look forward to seeing more as time progresses 

Apples55 posted:

Deuce posted:

This is what happens when you buy a 4' x 8' soundproofing board and forget you built a 4.5' x 8' table.  Need to go back to Lowe's tomorrow and but another board for 1/8th of the total.  Oh well.  Dummy move on my part. 

Yeah.. right. I know, that's your story and you're sticking to it. Would have been more plausible if you hadn't announced plans for a major expansion this afternoon   

Deuce- if it wasn't for the mistakes that we all make we would have finished our layouts in 5 minutes and had no reason to surf this forum!
No worries this is only one of about a million we all make.

I would be wary of the CEO- sounds like she has designs on some of your space. Build the bench work quick before she takes over.

Good evening folks.

I am brand new here to this OGR as a member. Today I worked on my layout. Moving vehicles around, fixing up my buildings. Took my wife and I 2 hours to repair my train station building. Somewhere along the way it got damaged in shipping. As we have just moved last May (2017) into our current home in Wabigoon, Ontario from Deep River, Ontario (1400km). 

My O-Scale 3 Rail set up is currently 8'x8' with plans to expand into the rest of my basement area (24'x34') with of course the limits of furnace, hot water tank, staircase and of course storage of things my wife wants downstairs. I am happy with what I have at the moment. gives me great joy to work on it and play with it. 

I have read a few forums here and picked up some great information. In closing I am going to try to include a few pictures of my layout. Which I started to build in September of 2017. 

Welcome to the Forum Richard. Nice start to your layout. Keep us posted on the expansion.

Bob

Deuce, I agree with Bob.  At our previous house, I had a nice basement space, but being busy with kids who had no interest in my trains, it took a few years to get to starting on a layout.  By that time I had less than 1/4 the original space.  All I could do was have a small shelf switching layout, not even enough for an 027 turn at the ends.  This house I had to wait until the daughters moved out to get some space.

Mark Boyce posted:

Deuce, I agree with Bob.  At our previous house, I had a nice basement space, but being busy with kids who had no interest in my trains, it took a few years to get to starting on a layout.  By that time I had less than 1/4 the original space.  All I could do was have a small shelf switching layout, not even enough for an 027 turn at the ends.  This house I had to wait until the daughters moved out to get some space.

My saving grace is that it is not a controlled environment space, so no AC and no heat (save a wall unit for air conditioning, and a space heater which I use to thaw pipes on the rare occassion it gets down below freezing in SC). Wife can't handle the cold, and if she's in the heat, would prefer to be in the pool (which is at the country club, a mile away). 

After we put the kids to sleep last night and cleaned up the kitchen, I told her I was going to work on the layout. She said it was too cold, and I said that as long as I could stay awake (our one year old is back to waking up at 2 am for some reason), this was the only time to get the work done. Besides, even though my blood has thinned by living in the south, I spent a good bit of time in Buffalo, NY. If I could stand the weather there, surely I can power through an hour of 35 degree weather to work on a layout!

I really need to get this fully operational by Feb 8th. That's my hard and fast deadline. Wife is having about a dozen girlfriends over for a spa evening (a weekday of all times). I figure I'll get the little one to sleep, and Nick and I can spend the evening running trains, and away from the gossiping ladies.

As long as we are talking sound proofing, I will throw my two cents in. About 12 years ago I built

a layout loosely following an article in ctt. The author had built a layout in the lobby of an attorneys office

and it had to be quiet. He covered the layout with foam carpet padding, put down the track, and fastened the 

track with small plastic wire ties pushed thru the holes in the ties. Then he added a second wire tie under

the table to hold the track in place. 

When I  built my layout I   covered the table with the foam then added the track. Then I added a second layer

of foam to all the areas where there was no track, bevelling the edge next to the track. Because it was going

to be a winter layout i painted the foam white with latex paint. After it dried I glued white quilt batting over

the whole thing. When I replaced the track I did not fasten it down at all, it stayed in place nicely.

Absolutely the quietest layout I ever built.

JD,

   Last night late I finished painting more of the little pre war lead little people for the layout,  they cam out pretty neat.

PCRR/Dave

Painted little people sitting on the drying station.

Thanks to Thom, (DOC) for getting them for me a while back, so I could paint them up.

Nice looking little people there Dave! they are going to look great on the layout!

Big Mike G,

   Thanks much buddy I appreciate it!

PCRR/Dave

Richard welcome to the Forum.  Great progress on your layout.  I had an 8x8 in our old house and haven't gotten it back up yet and we moved 16 years ago.  Now that I've retired we're looking to move to warmer weather so I guess there won't be a permanent layout in this house ever.

Got the oil storage facility all done. I placed the buildings in the area I am going to place them. With my track coming a few days ago I can start to lay out what I want to do where I was putting the buildings together. Pics..........Paul

paul 2 posted:

Got the oil storage facility all done. I placed the buildings in the area I am going to place them. With my track coming a few days ago I can start to lay out what I want to do where I was putting the buildings together. Pics..........Paul

Looks great Paul! Job well done! you must have something up your sleeve to top this one!

That looks great Paul!  Hopefully some day soon I will get to that point in my layout!  Still working on track and getting things together. .  Oh and ordering Christmas cars in January so they will be ready for November lol

Jim

coach joe posted:

Richard welcome to the Forum.  Great progress on your layout.  I had an 8x8 in our old house and haven't gotten it back up yet and we moved 16 years ago.  Now that I've retired we're looking to move to warmer weather so I guess there won't be a permanent layout in this house ever.

Just remember that interesting things can be done with folding tables and grass mat! 

Mitch 

Dave, the people look great!!

Paul, very nice looking oil facility. It can certainly be a point of interest in a small space!

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

coach joe posted:

Richard welcome to the Forum.  Great progress on your layout.  I had an 8x8 in our old house and haven't gotten it back up yet and we moved 16 years ago.  Now that I've retired we're looking to move to warmer weather so I guess there won't be a permanent layout in this house ever.

Just remember that interesting things can be done with folding tables and grass mat! 

Mitch 

Won't the gi-raffs eat the grass   

Apples55 posted:

Won't the gi-raffs eat the grass   

Naw, they're working on the trees!   

Mitch 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

coach joe posted:

Richard welcome to the Forum.  Great progress on your layout.  I had an 8x8 in our old house and haven't gotten it back up yet and we moved 16 years ago.  Now that I've retired we're looking to move to warmer weather so I guess there won't be a permanent layout in this house ever.

Just remember that interesting things can be done with folding tables and grass mat! 

Mitch 

Mitch,  Didn’t realize Fortesque was venturing out. Was he on shark tank?  My kid just bought these.

Mark,

   Here are a couple of my favorites from this particular batch of little people.

PCRR/Dave

 Sherlock Holmes with the search dog, and the Dickens Type man carrying the Christmas presents just behind Sherlock, are seriously nice pre WWII moldings, that I really like. Glad to add them to the Train Room layouts.  Lots of other nice moldings in that particular group also.

Those are great, Dave!

Say, Dave, in re: another thread here:

Can lead figures like that be baked at low temperatures to harden the enamel better?  Or will they melt? 

Mitch 

Mitch,

   At lower temp's for a longer period it's safe, it will not damage the lead and sets the paint up nicely.  However I have found that using a Heat Lamp over the painted figures, for about 4 Hrs works almost as well, and is a lot less trouble than setting up the kiln, unless you keep one set up all the time.

I use good Testers oil base Paints also, which is very important for making these figures come out nicely.  Thom (Doc) gave me good advise on this, I wanted to reassure myself on using Testers and he advised me that was exactly what he still uses.  Thom (Doc) has some of the nicest painted lead figures from the pre WWII era I have ever seen.

PCRR/Dave

I just purchased a new MTH DCS remote downloaded Ver6.10 into it and had to add all my MTH engines.  17 in all.

laz1957 posted:

I just purchased a new MTH DCS remote downloaded Ver6.10 into it and had to add all my MTH engines.  17 in all.

Is that common?  I thought they recognized them and added them automatic like?

Jim

Cars&Trains,

   With both my DCS HHRC's I had to add all the Engines, no auto function for this, unless the 6.10 revision has changed, which I doubt.

PCRR/Dave